The victim of a traffic accident that took place in Germany, brought an action against the insurance company with which the vehicle responsible for the damage was insured, seeking, inter alia, a ruling that he had suffered a serious brain and cervical spine injury and that, as a result of that accident, he was permanently incapable of work. The victim received compensation for the accident in accordance with the law on accident insurance in Finland since the accident also constituted a work accident. After the victim brought the action against the insurer of the vehicle, the work accident insurer also sued the insurer of the vehicle before the same court of first instance seeking reimbursement of all past and future compensation. The district court dismissed the action and the accident insurer appealed to the Court of Appeal, Finland, which referred questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of article 6(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (OJ 2001 L12, p 1)
Held , that the Court of Justice had previously held, in the context of the Brussels Convention, that an action brought by the insured party against the insurer, seeking compensation for the consequences of an accident, and an action whereby that insurer sought indemnification from another insurer considered to have provided cover for the same event, had to be regarded, respectively, as original proceedings and an action on a warranty or guarantee within the meaning of article 6(2) of that Convention. Since the interpretation given by the court in respect of the provisions of that Convention was also valid for those of Regulation No 44/2001 whenever the provisions of those instruments could be regarded as equivalent, it had to be found that such was the case as regards article 6(2) of the Brussels Convention and article 6(2) of Regulation No 44/2001. Accordingly, the scope of article 6(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 included an action brought by a third party, in accordance with national law, against the defendant in the original proceedings, and closely linked to those original proceedings, seeking reimbursement of compensation paid by that third party to the applicant in those original proceedings, provided that the action was not instituted solely with the object of removing that defendant from the jurisdiction of the court which would be competent in the case.
R Heß, E Salonen and A Staudinger for the insurer of the vehicle; J Tanhuanpää for the work accident insurer; J Heliskoski, agent, for the Finnish Government; M Wilderspin and E Paasivirta, agents, for the European Commission.